Rachel, does worship need to benefit anyone? Should we not worship God simply (!) because He deserves our worship? No, He does not need it. Yes, it benefits us, but it is not the primary motive in worship (or, at least, it shouldn't be...). I worship God because He deserves my worship.
You believe he deserves your ''worship'' because you're told he does, and you obey what you're told because ultimately you're scared of hell or want to live in heaven. If you weren't threatened with hell or didn't have the promise of eternal heaven, would you still ''worship'' God? Be honest with yourself. Then whenever you have an answer, ask why that answer is the way it is.
The worship of God should be in action, not in shallow prostration. The meaning behind the desire to worship God shouldn't be about my place in heaven, or my fear of hell, but about the ramifications of a simple observation; if the whole world lived fettered by desire and absolutely selfishly, without wisdom, without compassion and without understanding, what kind of world would that be?
There's a reason God's way to live is the best way, and it's got little to do with 'attaining a place in eternal heaven'. That's an ultimately selfish motive; it cares about 'me' and 'my standing with God' as opposed to others, instead of caring about 'my patience and my servitude being better than my pride and my demands'. It's saying 'Hey daddy, look how good I am compared to the rest of your children, give me a place in heaven, I deserve it'.
Forget about that. It's not about that. It's about respecting God's children, all of them, and loving them like yourself. Why? Hatred doesn't cease by hatred, judgement doesn't cease by judgement, and condemnation doesn't cease by condemnation.
What the woman in the video is saying is very honest, more honest than most, but it's also misframed. Surely, from her perspective, she's doing what she does for herself and her own happiness, which is true of many christians who 'worship to get to heaven', but it's also the wrong motive. It should not be about 'getting a place in eternal heaven' or 'being in God's good books' at all. It's about realizing that taking up humility and self restraint and living a life of giving is better than a life of utter depravity because of the results it produces, though such a life should never be forced on anybody else; my faith is
my choice and
my discipline to adhere to,
for the benefit of others, without any forcible compulsion for them to take it up.
And I'm a hundred percent certain Jesus would agree with that.
